


GLITCH

by kiwisneakers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Blood and Violence, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mild Language, Multiverse, Originally Posted Elsewhere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:34:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,933
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29571123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiwisneakers/pseuds/kiwisneakers
Summary: Matilda Juno Watson, better known as MJ, just wants her senior year at her elite arts high school to go smoothly. She wants to get into the art college of her dreams, watch her brother win the state hockey championships, and win the coveted spot of valedictorian over that rich best friend of hers, Hank Osborn.Things don't go exactly as planned.After an incident in her mom's lab grants her superpowers, MJ finds herself with no other option than to save the people of New York City as a new hero: Spider Byte. And after she stumbles upon her neighbor, Peter's, senior thesis project at college, she accidentally sends herself to an alternate universe... and sends a cascading avalanche of events into motion.With the help of Miles Morales, a totally different Peter Parker, and a handful of other familiar faces, maybe MJ can repair the spiderverse and put everything back to normal.But by that point... will she want to?Or will things be better with a shattered multiverse?[slow updates]
Relationships: Miles Morales/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	1. Playlist

🕷

 **prologue** by Gareth Emery

_Welcome to your life...  
_ _Have you thought this through?_

**Light** by San Holo

_Even if it makes me blind  
_ _I just wanna see the light  
_ _Breathe in, leave it all behind_

**Freedom of Falling** by VERITE

_So take me tonight somewhere I can find  
_ _The freedom of falling_

**Tangerine Sky** by Blackbird Blackbird

_We're crumbling into nothing  
_ _But we still need to hold onto memories  
_ _The things we've lost and found along the way_

**Disintegrate** by Painted Palms

_When you dissolve then new worlds get made  
_ _Gotta let yourself just disintegrate_

**simulation** by Smallpools

_Loving life in a simulation  
_ _We're all part of the information_

**I Found U** by Passion Pit feat. Galantis

_Just look how bad these last few years were to me  
_ _They brought me lower than you'd ever believe  
_ _...you had it just as bad but never would show  
_ _You barely made it out alive on your own  
_ _That's when I found you_

**Good News** by Apashe

_You can never say what I have lost  
_ _You can never guess where I've been down_

**We Were Here (MYTH Remix)** by Lights

_Slow burn, fighting words  
_ _Show them how the fire works  
_ _Make an impression, teach 'em all a lesson_

**Work** by Apashe feat. Vo Williams

_When it's no pain, it's no glory  
_ _Legendary grind for the history;  
_ _The grind never dies  
_ _We giving it a hundred_ _'til the whole team rise  
_ _We put in work_

**Love Me Less (feat. Quinn XCII)** by MAX

_Will you judge me? All my ugly?  
_ _I won't blame you if you do_

**Not Going Home** by Great Good Fine Ok

_I would love it if you noticed  
_ _That I'm not going home_

**Inner Dialogue** by Passion Pit

_Give me your love_

**Plot Twist** by NIKI

_Bored of how all the chapters start  
_ _But you feel like a brand new arc_

**Black & Gold (Radio Edit) **by Sam Sparro

_'Cause if you're not really here  
_ _Then I don't wanna be either  
_ _I wanna be next to you_

**Cool** by Dua Lipa

_You know, baby  
_ _I could see us in the real life_

**Blinding Lights** by The Weeknd

_I'm drowning in the night  
_ _When I'm like this,  
_ _You're the one I trust_

**Indigo** by 88rising and NIKI

_Honey, I don't stop for no one  
_ _But I'd pause for you;  
_ _I'm so over this overthinking mind_

**Calling Out** by Penguin Prison

_I can't remember,  
_ _Don't tell me now  
_ _I never promised you  
that I'd be around_

**Devil I Know** by Allie X

_Every time I take your lead  
_ _Feels like a curse  
_ _And every time I try to stop  
_ _Feels even worse_

**Thank You** by PVRIS feat. RAYE

_You're nothing but a bullet that I dodged  
_ _Thank you for fucking me up  
_ _But it was worth all it cost  
_ _'Cause I found myself in all the blood I lost_

**Annihilation** by Lights and i_o

_I was alive when I wanted to die  
_ _That was where you left me  
_ _But I kept coming back every time_

**Don't Tell Me How It Ends** by Penguin Prison

_And I'll see you again  
_ _Don't tell me how it ends  
_ _When I meet you again  
_ _We'll talk about it then_

**Lionhearted** by Porter Robinson (feat. Urban Cone)

_No matter what they try  
_ _They won't take away our will to fight_

**Rain** by Apashe feat KROY

_Did I dream,  
or was I being blind?  
_ _Did I die  
or is this making it out alive?_

**Gimme a Minute** by PVRIS

_A year of lows spent so high  
_ _Feeling like I'm out of time  
_ _Inner peace is hard to find  
_ _They're asking why  
_ _I think I'm losing my mind_

**Epilogue** by Lights and i_o

_Oh, the things I've done  
_ _In the name of love_

**Byte** by Martin Garrix feat. Brooks

🕷


	2. Prologue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to MJ's corner of the spiderverse...

🕷

Uh... hi or whatever.

Guess I should introduce myself. Right? That's what normal people do?

The name's Matilda Juno Watson.

People who know me call me Juno... and my best friends call me MJ; Matilda's never really been my style. My parents call me Junebug, Juno Award, Junie B Jones... My dad is especially full of punny witticisms, and they catch like wildfire in my group of friends, mostly to tease.

But enough about them.

My allies and my enemies (you know, the ones you're _really_ here for) know me as Spider Byte, protector of the Big Burger itself: New York City.

Call me Byte for short.

To tell you the truth, I never wanted to be a hero.

(I'm only eighteen, for fuck's sake! I have colleges to apply to! People to kiss! Homework to finish! Memories to make!)

But here we are.

And now, New York's tiniest hero, spelling bee champ, honor roll chart-topper, and all-around badass, is here to tell you _my_ side of the story. But... are you ready to hear about how _I_ helped save the multiverse?

Because it's a wild ride, let me tell you right now.

Shit hits the interdimensional fan in a tremendously fucked up way.

The ending's not _too_ bad though... I mean, must be, right?

I'm still here... Telling _you_ my story.

Alright. Well, let's swing right into **Part 1** : AKA _How MJ Glitched Everything Up_.

Glad someone's sticking around to listen.

So... thanks, I guess.

No, yeah, thanks.

For real.

Okay, bye. 


	3. Ch.1 - Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's get some superpowers, shall we?

🕷

Let's start at the beginning.

It all started when my mom forgot her dinner at home.

That semester, Mom - AKA Dr. Noemi Torrez-Watson - taught Bio 101 at University of New York, among a fuckton of other classes. One of the time slots for Bio 101 was a night course, from six to nine PM on Friday nights. Typically, this meant dad, Fletcher, Devon, and I had one night a week where we had to forage for our own food.

And by 'forage'... I mean, we usually called for pizza.

Pepperoni and pineapple with extra hot sauce. _Hell yeah._

We have zero survival instincts. Well, maybe Fletcher does; He was in Man Scouts or Falcon Scouts or whatever for like, what? Two years?

But if dad, Devon, and I were dropped into the wilderness, we'd curl up into withering husks of sadness and waste away into nothingness, no questions asked. _Absolutely none._ There could be a Denny's or a Starbucks or a damn grocery store like, just beyond the trees, and we'd never know.

Anyway. Mom forgot her dinner, right?

So I got home from school that first Friday of the new school year - _Senior Year, baby!_ \- and found Mom's Tupperware full of leftover _pozole_ on the corner of the counter, complete with reusable silverware and side container of fixings (lime, cilantro, onion, radish, oregano), like she'd been in a hurry and got distracted by a bug on the wall...

In fact, that's probably 100% what happened.

Mom's a bug nerd... Uh, _entomologist._ Same difference.

Her weird love of creepy crawlers and forgetful tendencies were nothing new to us. I rolled my eyes and dropped my backpack into the nearest free chair just as dad popped his head into the kitchen. Cracking the fridge, I searched for something to drink.

"I thought I heard a burglar," he grinned, sidling up near me to wrap an arm around my shoulders and press a kiss to my freshly-dyed lavender hair.

With finger-guns leveled at his head, I joked in a low voice, "Hand over the Tampico and no one gets hurt," and eyed the cramped fridge.

Dad winced and backed away with his hands up in surrender. "Sorry sweet pea, we're fresh out as of lunch. Don't hurt your dear ol' pa. Please, spare me!"

"Not a big deal, dad." A half-drunk jug of orange juice caught my eye, and I pulled it from the fridge, brandishing it like _The Price is Right_ in my dad's direction with a few added _ooh_ s and _aah_ s.

He chuckled and shook his head, then changed topics on me. "Any clue where your brother is? Dev's at... Aiden's? Hayden's? Caden's? I don't fuckin' know... Why does everyone have the same name these days?" Dad yawned and scratched at his scruffy beard, and I smiled softly at the lilt of his British accent, which contrasted sharply to outsiders with his touristy **I ❤ NYC** tee and distinctly Asian features (midnight-black hair; the same monolid, almond-shaped eyes as me, except his irises were decidedly chocolate and mine were mom's shade of apple green; and that permanently tan skin that I thanked the heavens for). Born and raised in London, Dad's side of the family moved there when grams was a teen... and grams and gramps lived there still.

Hence the "Watson" last name, despite being decidedly asian-looking with a Chinese-British dad and a Mexican-American mom.

Now you know. Spelled it out for you, clear as day.

Sometimes dad's accent wore off on me, and common dinner conversation in the Watson house was the fam arguing about the "proper" pronunciation and spelling of every single word ever. Google often broke ties or decided fates... But the night always ended in laughs.

So at least our dysfunctional family unit had that going for us.

"Turd's at hockey practice," I shrugged, putting the juice away after pouring myself a tall glass of the good stuff. "Hank was asking my advice about plays and Fletcher-related things at lunch today, so my guess is co-captaining is _not_ going well."

Dad shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

_Oh no. Incoming dad-talk._

"That Osborn kid bothers me," he admitted, scratching at his scraggly beard again. "I hate that I don't like him because of his dad, but... I just want you to be safe around Hank. Yes? You hear me, Matilda, dearest?"

I hate when he uses my real name.

It's like an arrow of guilt straight to the center of my soul. He may as well have stabbed me in the aorta with the rustiest spoon he could find. "Yeah, _I hear you_ ," I replied in a mocking British accent.

At least that earned me a begrudging laugh. Dad jerked his head toward mom's leftovers. "Any chance you want to take care of that?"

"Five bucks," I answered immediately, which was Devon's response for everything. Always saving up for something, that kid.

Dad fished a crisp fiver from his wallet and slapped it on the counter. "Swing by the school and get Fletch on your way home. I don't like the idea of you walking home alone that way," he added, already disappearing toward his office, where he was no doubt nose-deep in some obscure text about mythology, translating to his heart's content and prepping for his next lecture.

Busy finding a lunchbox in the cupboard above the fridge, I rolled my eyes. "Sure thing, you sexist weirdo!" I yelled at his retreating back, as I pocketed the five and grabbed mom's food, shoving it into the lunch box, "In case you forgot, I know karate!" My penny board waited by the front door, lilac as my hair and ready for a ride.

His shout echoed from down the hall. "I'm worried for both of my children, regardless of gender! Also pick up the pizza on your way home! Use that five as a tip, please, dear!"

One foot out the door, I paused, scrunching up my nose. "Dammit," I hissed under my breath. "Fine love you bye!" I shouted back into the apartment, slamming the door and disappearing into the fog of cigarette smoke and cloying cologne that clogged the maze-like halls of our creepy apartment building.

Brooklyn flew by beneath my wheels as I sailed across the city. Fresh pizza, salty hot dogs, and choking smog perfumed the air as I wove between grumpy pedestrians, popping my headphones over my ears and blasting my skateboarding playlist to drown out the honking horns and the sirens and... the all-consuming _noise_.

For some reason, the Williamsburg Bridge was giving me bad vibes, so I took a slightly longer route. The Manhattan Bridge carried me over the East River, the noise falling away for a brief moment as the sun sank low behind the darkening skyline.

There, I felt free for the briefest second.

Just me, the wind, and my music.

But the sound faded back in, no matter how loud I cranked my playlist, and with it came the steady hum of anxiety that filled my ribs; nothing in particular worried me, but living in NYC made me hyper vigilant, I guess.

_Gee... wonder why._

Manhattan whipped past as I navigated the tangled streets of Chinatown, avoided eye contact in Little Italy, and clutched mom's food to my chest a bit tighter in Noho. Soon enough, UNY popped up among the skyscrapers, and Washington Square Park bloomed up before me.

I knew my way around. Mom worked at UNY since Fletch and I were born, so I knew exactly what building to break int- I mean, _slip_ into. Trust me, I make it sound more hardcore than it is; I just hung around the front door, waiting until another student came out, then I'd slip inside. If they asked or protested, I'd just say I forgot my keycard. _Easy enough._ Most of 'em were high anyway, so they didn't typically fight me.

Gotta love college.

From there, Mom's office was in the same place it had been for the last eighteen years: second floor, last door on the left before the elevators. Plus, it was still decorated with Fletch and I's drawings from when we were little. Mom refused to take them down, even though we were much better artists now.

Well, at least _I_ was. _Fletch_ still draws like a five year old.

But anyway, mom wasn't even in her office. The door was locked, the lights were off, and when I tried knocking... no one answered.

_What the fuck, mom?_

Checking up and down the deserted hall, I pouted and gestured at her door. Even though I'd bought her a tracker for her birthday (one that she was supposed to update with her location on campus), she never used it. So, I had to use my detective skills. The only other logical place she could be...?

The bug lab.

Between my penny board and mom's food, my hands were full, so I had to force the lab door open with my butt, just a few doors down from mom's office. " _Ma?_ You in here?" I shouted, wincing as the heavy door slammed shut behind me.

No one answered.

Scoffing at the empty lab, I put my skateboard on the closest empty table beside mom's lunchbox, and puttered around. On every table sat a different glass-walled enclosure, labeled with a piece of paper on the wall that told me what kind of arachnid or insect crawled about inside and a few basic facts.

After living with my mom for... well, my whole ass life, bugs didn't even phase me anymore. I'd had a tarantula for a pet for a few years until...

You know what? That's a story for a different time.

I shook myself from the haunting memory as I stared at the nearest cage, and forced myself to read the label above the enclosure to slow my racing heart.

Colloquially known as _The Bold_ or _Daring Jumping Spider._

Origin: chemical spill, Florida.

Rarity: common.

" _Phiddipus Audax_ , huh? Long way from home, little guy," I muttered, peering around inside. The label said it wasn't poisonous... but that's when I noticed.

The lid was askew.

A shiver of panic slid over me, icy even with my hoodie on. I hadn't touched the cage or the lid, so it wasn't my fault, but the idea that a spider of unknown size and scariness crept around the room somewhere terrified me... and I still felt guilty for some reason. Exhaling a shaky breath, I turned in a slow circle, careful not to lift my feet and accidentally squish the little guy. "Here, spider spider spider," I murmured, "Come out, come out wherever you are."

Pretty sure that my words were poor attempts to soothe myself.

Spiders can't understand human speech, _right?_

Something tickled the nape of my neck, just above the tag of my hoodie. _Just the tag_ , I reassured myself, _It's just the tag. Or maybe the air con. A ghost, even. Not a spider_. "Here, spidey spider," I continued, voice trembling, "Come on, buddy, cut me some slack. You're stressing me the fuck out..."

A pinch stung my spine at the base of my skull, shuttling electric pain through my nerves like a lightning strike. I squealed, no longer so sure that it was just my tag, and slapped there, the pain immediately ceasing. The room swam in my vision as I brought my hand to my face, a smear of black and yellow in the center of my palm.

Then... I think I passed out.

Yeah. I did.

I passed out. 

🕷


	4. Ch.2 - Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter, MJ introduced us to her goofy dad and then zoomed off into the city to deliver dinner to her forgetful mom like a good kid would...   
> Only to get distracted by her mom's bug lab. And a jumping spider.   
> And then promptly pass out after getting bit by it...

🕷

I try to do one nice thing for my mom...

And I can't even do that right.

Mom woke me herself, the lab only illuminated by the flashlight on her phone. " _Mija?_ What are you doing here? And why are you on the floor?"

Groaning at the harsh light and the explosive volume, my head throbbed in time with my heartbeat. "I... I came to bring you dinner. You... left it at home," I explained, trying to hold my barf down as my stomach frothed, and I sat up with mom's help. Somehow, I avoided mom's question about being on the floor... because I wasn't about to tell her that I squished one of her prized buggies. No way.

I like being alive too much.

Before she could say anything else, I jerked my head toward the table with my penny board and the lunchbox, and added, "You weren't in your office." When she looked over at the table, I opened my hand, and found the dead spider still smeared across my palm.

_Gross_.

"I got pulled into an impromptu staff meeting, sweetie, I'm sorry," she frowned, sweeping errant strands of sweaty hair out of my face and calling my attention back to her. "My class is taking a bathroom break right now, and I saw the lab door open... and your father called me _twenty five_ times, claiming you'd been kidnapped."

I rolled my eyes. "Drama queen."

"Indeed." She grimaced, her green eyes poring over my clammy face. "Let me call you a cab, hon," Mom said, grunting as she pushed herself up to stand, "I don't like the idea of you boarding home sick."

Honestly, the cool night air on my sweaty skin sounded really nice right about then. But I wasn't about to say no to a free ride.

"Thanks mom. I..." Biting my lip, I considered telling her about the dead spider, glancing down at its smushed body across my hand, but thought better of it. "I-I'm supposed to get Fletch on the way home. Maybe just have the cab take me to school, and we can walk from there?"

I hate lying to the life-giver. I'm going to hell. I know it.

"Sure baby," Mom smiled softly, grabbing her lunch from the table and handing over my penny board, "Whatever makes you feel better."

The kiss she stamped to my forehead felt ice cold against my feverish brow, but I welcomed the love, no matter how small.

🕷

My cab driver was a chatty motherfucker.

All I wanted... _no_ , all I _prayed_ for was a nice, quiet ride to school.

But nooo. The universe can't give MJ a break.

This guy - Kyle, _of fucking course_ \- would not shut the fuck up for even one second except for brief pauses to breathe and for me to give him half-assed responses to his crazy-ass antics.

I basically knew his whole life story by the time he dropped me off in front of the Brooklyn Academy of the Arts (which we call BATA, as in "hey BATA, BATA, swing!"); Kyle grew up in Iowa and joined a frat straight out the gate at college (no surprises there), and quickly became an alcoholic; to pay for his booze and shenanigans with his bronies (his words, not mine), he took a cabbie job. Most recently, Kyle did a two-night stint in jail for public urination.

And you know what? Maybe in a different life, or even on a different day, I wouldn't have minded Kyle and his bullshit, but that night?

_That_ night I had half a mind to karate chop Kyle in the throat just so he'd give me one damn second to think uninterrupted by his cutesy midwestern accent.

He was obviously too lost in the story-sauce (and probably the real sauce, too) to notice that I was shivering in the backseat, coated in an icy full body sweat, and that my teeth chattered hard enough to probably register as a minor earthquake on the Richter scale. But Kyle did say, "You don't look so good, fairy-hair," as I exited the vehicle.

Thankful that my mom gave me cash for the ride, which I hastily shoved through the crack in Kyle's window, I hissed back with enough sarcasm to kill Queen Kong, " _So_ perceptive. Have you considered becoming a detective?"

My stomach turned as I shuffled toward the locker room doors, and Kyle shouted after me, "Wait, do you really mean that?!"

I didn't have the energy for anymore witty repartee.

Or to be mean to Kyle. He didn't deserve it.

Luckily, Fletcher was waiting outside for me on one of the metal benches that had seen better days. He noticed me before I did him. "Hey fuckstain, what took you so- ...Wait. Juni? What's wrong?" He was on me like stink on shit in less than a second, his giant hockey hands clapped onto my trembling shoulders. "You look like _ass_ ," he said softly, his dark brows furrowing as he took in my pale, sweaty face.

"Well, you _smell_ like ass, so I guess we're even," I countered weakly, smirking through my swimming vision. "Let's go home." Tapping his butt with my penny board, I ushered him down the sidewalk.

We were silent for a bit, even though I could feel the weight of Fletcher's eyes on me constantly. "You sure I can't help?" He said as he walked beside me, "I could carry you."

"You've got your backpack," I muttered, my head spinning dangerously. _Have the street lights always danced like that? No... right?_ I slowed and blinked a few times, forcing myself to add, "And I... I've got my board. We... mmm... pizza?"

"Dad had it delivered," he explained, stopping in front of me. With a few movements, he took my board from my hands, strapped it to his backpack, and slung the whole shebang over my shoulders. "Now hop on before I force you to," he smiled, kneeling down in front of me.

I honestly didn't need much convincing.

Within ten seconds, Fletcher bounded down the sidewalk with those long-ass gazelle legs of his, humming a pop song under his breath and bobbing his head as he held onto my thighs, carrying me home piggy-back style. My hands linked in front of his throat, his backpack weighing a million tons on my soaked and aching back.

My energy faded, the lights of the city smearing into a watercolor of black and neon. "We never... breathe a word... of this... to anyone," I whispered in his ear as I rested my head on his shoulder.

"Whatever you say, MJ," Fletcher chirped back.

_Damn right._

But I was asleep before I could say it out loud. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, GLITCH is synced to Wattpad!  
> If it updates there, I'll update it here too c:

**Author's Note:**

> Playlist available on spotify, titled GLITCH, username klaxdal


End file.
